Patent document 1 which will be described later discloses an example of a door latch apparatus of this kind. The door latch apparatus is to be attached to a sliding door, and includes a latch configured to be rotatable in two directions corresponding to an engagement direction in which the latch engages with a striker provided at a vehicle body and a disengagement direction in which the engagement is released, a pawl (a ratchet) made of metal and configured to be rotatable between a restriction position at which rotation of the latch in the disengagement direction is restricted and a no restriction position at which the rotation of the latch in the disengagement direction is not restricted, and an open lever (a linkage lever) made of metal and biasing, via a disengagement lever, the pawl so that the pawl rotates from the restriction position to the non-restriction position. In this case, the pawl can be rotated (driven) from the restriction position to the non-restriction position by utilizing a load inputted from the open lever to the disengagement lever.